Blue Mountains Gazette: Blue Mountains Council, Australia, receives CDER's "Local Recognition of Rights Award" for innovative Rights of Nature policy

November 18, 2021

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) awarded its Local Recognition of Rights Award to Australia’s Blue Mountain Council for its policies that expand civil, democratic, and environmental rights at the municipal level. The Blue Mountain Council saw their vision for innovative policy in facing global environmental concerns come to fruition when sitting Ward 2 Greens councillor Brent Hoare and Greens candidate for Ward 3 Kingley Liu brought a rights of nature framework to the table for how their communities approached environmental legislation.

Mari Margil, Executive Director of The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) has this to say about this accomplishment:

“We are proud to ... recognize groundbreaking local governments which are embracing the shift from our current environmental regulatory system to one based on the recognition of the rights of nature."

This award is a landmark opportunity to further the discussion of not only rights of nature governmental policy, but also about the social change that can be made in communities. The full article from Blue Mountain Gazette can be found here.